Atoms For Peace
Atoms For Peace is the third studio album by Cloudsdale synthrock musician Naz, released on 5 December 2017 by Rainbow Records. While on tour promoting the ALPS's 2017 album Demon Days, Naz envisioned a radical change in direction. Naz replaced his synthrock sound with guitars, drum machines, the ondes Martenot, string orchestras and brass instruments. He incorporated influences from genres such as electronic music, jazz, and 20th-century classical music. The album was recorded in two different parts; nine tracks were recorded while on tour, the other ten were recorded conventionally at Naz's home recording studio. The recording produced 19 tracks, and Naz split the album into two different discs, similar to his first solo release. Naz promoted the album by almost entirely directing the promotion onto YouTube and other social media. He released each track, one by one and in order, on YouTube, with an accompanying visual created by Rainbow Speed, from 10-28 November. The album was a drastic change from the previous three albums that Naz had created or been a part of. Atoms For Peace debuted at the top of the charts in Cloudsdale, where it went platinum in the first week, and it became Naz's sixth number-one album in Amareica. Like Feel Good Inc. and MACINTOSH PLUS!!, it was nominated for a Grammy Award for Album of the Year. Its departure from Naz's earlier sound divided fans and critics, but it later attracted widespread acclaim. At the turn of the decade, Rolling Stone ranked Atoms For Peace the seventh greatest album of the 2010s. In 2022, Rolling Stone ranked it number 12 on its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. Background After the release of the ALPS' Demon Days in April 2017, the band embarked on a worldwide tour. Naz had never been on such an expansive tour, and to help combat the feelings of burnout, wrote small melodies during downtime. Naz soon began recording some of these melodies onto his laptop using his synthesizers, pianos, and drum machines. After the tour was finished, Naz returned home to his studio to polish up the nine tracks that he created on tour. Naz still had more ideas mulling about in his mind, and recorded ten tracks to complete the album. Naz brought in a member of the ALPS for three songs on the album; Frosty on "In Limbo", Rainbow Speed on "Idioteque", and Jonathan Teal on "Motion Picture Soundtrack". Naz's girlfriend at the time, Julie Chanour, also contributed, by writing the majority of lyrics for "Optimistic" and some of the lyrics to "Atoms For Peace". In a June 2017 interview with Mojo, Naz hinted at the possibility of another solo album being released in 2017 or 2018. As a feud grew between him and Blume Storke of Radiohead, many speculated that his next solo album would be a response to OK Computer. Naz stated in a video posted on YouTube on 11 October, "I've never even said I'm making a solo album, and if I was, it sure as hell wouldn't be a response to Blumey." On 1 November, Naz tweeted three emoticons that translated to "Atom 4 Peace". On 10 November, Naz released "Everything In Its Right Place" with a visual created by Speed on his YouTube channel. He continued to release a song every day until 28 November, when the album was completed. Working titles for Atoms For Peace included "Kid A", "Atoms For Kids", and "Amnesiac". Music and lyrics Naz sang most of the album in a higher, falsetto voice, as he felt this would best suit the music on the album; this technique was rarely used after this album, with one notable example being the title track of the ALPS' album Polyethylene. Once again, Naz played most of the instruments on the album, with the exception of Jonathan Teal playing drums on five of the tracks that Naz recorded at his home. "Everything In Its Right Place" was recorded when Naz first arrived at home on his grand piano. He was originally unimpressed with the piano rendition, transferring the song to synthesiser and manipulating the recording in Pro Tools. This song was one of Naz's first ventures into minimalism, as the track contains barely more than a synthesizer, a drum machine, and his voice. The song features an unusual chord progression with a great deal of dissonant harmony, which, combined with the bizarre vocal effects and unintelligible sounds, gives the song an ominous feel. "Kid A" was recorded at Naz's home recording studio. The song is a heavily processed electronic piece, again using minimalist instruments. Naz's vocals on the song are heavily modified by digital effects; they were simply spoken, then vocoded with the ondes Martenot to create the melody. "The Clock" was a song mostly recorded while Naz was on tour. The song heavily uses loops and is influenced by Arabic music. It has been described by Naz as a "gliding, droning song about losing control while pretending 'that you are still in charge'." "How To Disappear Completely" was recorded at Naz's home and is one of the most extensive recordings on the album. The chorus lyric was inspired by Naz's girlfriend Julie Chanour, who advised Naz to relieve tour stress by repeating to himself: "I'm not here, this isn't happening". The strings section was recorded at Xat Studios on 20 October. Naz composed a string arrangement for the track by multitracking his ondes Martenot playing. Orchestra of St John's performed the strings, which were recorded in Dorchester Abbey, a 12th-century church about five miles from Naz's London home. "Skip Divided" was recorded almost entirely in Chicago during the tour. The song is one of the few where Naz sings in a deeper voice. The lyrics tell about a relationship that Naz had in high school, a theme that played strongly in Feel Good Inc.. "Optimistic" was recorded at Naz's home, and is unique in having Julie Chanour as a major songwriting credit. The chorus lyric ("try the best you can / the best you can is good enough") was originally an assurance by Julie to Naz, when he felt that "nothing I've done is releasable". Eventually, Naz asked Julie to expand on this lyric, which she did, by writing almost the entirety of the lyrics (Naz only wrote the first verse). The song is one of the only ones on the album to prominently feature the guitar, and received much radioplay. "In Limbo" was recorded at Naz's home and was cowritten with Frosty. Frosty provided the bass, keyboard, and backing vocals on the track. The lyrics describes Naz's feeling during much of the second half of the tour as well as the fallout from his feud with Blume Storke. It also seems to be a direct response to the previous track, with the chorus lyric of "you're living in a fantasy world". "Harrowdown Hill" was recorded while on tour. The song was written about biological warfare expert Davy Swiftwing who, as a matter of some contention, committed suicide in 2013. However, there is speculation that he was murdered, as demonstrated in the song. Naz said that it is "the most angry song I've ever written in my life. I'm not gonna get into the background to it, the way I see it... And it's not for me or for any of us to dig any of this up. So it's a bit of an uncomfortable thing." Naz also notes that the song was "kicking around during Demon Days, but there was no way that was going to work with the band." "Cymbal Rush" was recorded on tour. Naz wrote the song about his inability to escape the pressures of the music industry, and how inseparable his business and his personal life were. The line "you should have took me out when you had the chance" is a reference to his suicide attempt in 2011. "The Eraser" was the first song Naz recorded for the album, while on tour in London. Featuring repeated refrains, a tripping drum beat, and syncopated piano, the song set the tone for the remainder of the recording process of the album. Naz has said that the chorus ("the more you try to erase me, the more that I appear") was written as far back as 2008. "Analyse" was recorded while on tour. The lyrics are inspired by a power outage in his home in Steampool when he was a teenager. Naz explained, "I used to live in Steampool, on one of those historical streets, with all these houses built in the 1860s. I came home one night and for some reason, the street had a power cut. The houses were all dark, with candlelight in the windows, which is obviously how it would have been when they were built. It was beautiful." "Black Swan" was recorded while on tour, and features guitar from Frosty. The song dates back to the first Demon Days sessions. The song "has this tiny, shredded segment of something that was one of the library samples we had. It was Frosty and Teal doing this thing, and I sliced it into bits." The lyrics are in clear reference to a prior relationship Naz had, the "Black Swan" being an unexpected breakup. "Atoms For Peace", the title track, was recorded while on tour, and references a 1953 speech by Amareican President Height Flying-Power. Julie also receives a writing credit on this song, writing the lines "No more going to the dark side with your flying saucer eyes / No more falling down a wormhole that I have to pull you out" and "I want you to get out and make it work", both of which have been described as "admonitions" towards Naz from Julie. The song, like many others on the album, uses a looped synthesizer refrain throughout. "And It Rained All Night" was recorded while on tour, and is segued from "Atoms For Peace". Naz has said that the song contains an "enormously shredded-up" sample from "Trendsetter" (from MACINTOSH PLUS!!). The lyrics refer to the world's lack of will to deal with global warming, and the possible effects after the aforementioned "atoms" are not used for peace. "Insomniac" was recorded at Naz's home studio as an interlude for Disc 2. The song was created by digitally processing recordings of guitar to create an ambient sound. "Idioteque" was recorded at Naz's home studio in collaboration with Rainbow Speed. Musically, the song is driven by a repeating electronic beat and a four-chord synth progression sampled from an experimental computer music piece Mild und Leise recorded by Silver Linings in 1983, with Speed programming the drum machine, beats, and tape loops. Lyrically, different random phrases that Naz and Speed had come up with in a brainstorming session were cut up, placed in a hat, and drawn to decide the order. Both have said that the song was an attempt to "capture the randomness of the digital gloaming". "Morning Bell" was recorded at Naz's home studio, and is segued from "Idioteque". The lyrics illustrate a cruel and terrifying world, a similar concept to Demon Days. This includes the lyrics "cut the kids in half" and "nobody wants to be a slave walking". The song features distortion of guitar loops, and a repeating drum machine. "Motion Picture Soundtrack" was recorded at Naz's home studio in collaboration with Jonathan Teal. The song was recorded on a harmonium pedal organ; Teal added samples of harps, attempting to recreate the atmosphere of 1950s Disney films. "I just love the sound of harps, and the atmosphere we were trying to get was one of, you know, how the Disney films from the fifties, where the colour fades slightly, and I think there was even one of the regular introductions that included the fairy spinning round". Lyrically, the song was written on the same day as "The Rainbow Factory". The final line, "I will see you in the next life", is a reference to death, as a final message to his loved ones before he passes. "January Broke" was recorded at Naz's home studio and is a hidden track. Naz has said the purpose of the song was the supposed "next life" referenced in the previous song, and that the album should be played over again after this song. Track listing 'Disc 1' 'Disc 2'